Judge clears ex-HISD principal of cheating

Updated 10:18 pm, Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Mabel Caleb, shown in 2010, was a principal at Key Middle and Kashmere High. (Nick de la Torre/Chronicle).

Mabel Caleb, shown in 2010, was a principal at Key Middle and Kashmere High. (Nick de la Torre/Chronicle).

Photo: Nick De La Torre, Staff

Judge clears ex-HISD principal of cheating

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An administrative law judge has ruled that a former HISD principal is not responsible for cheating alleged to have occurred on state-mandated tests four years ago.

After a 2009 Houston Independent School District investigation, Mable Caleb, the former principal of Key Middle School and Kashmere High School, was accused of overseeing cheating on state assessment tests, financial fraud and stealing equipment.

Caleb, who has denied any wrongdoing, resigned from the Kashmere position in March 2010. However, the school board later voted to fire her and four other Key employees.

The school district filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency, which investigated and sought to revoke Caleb's teaching certification. Caleb appealed.

Administrative Law Judge Joanne Summerhays ruled Monday that there was insufficient evidence of any testing violations by Caleb to justify revoking her credentials.

"Ms. Caleb did not commit any act or fail to take any action as principal of Francis Scott Key Middle School ... that resulted in a breach of test security during the administration of the 2009 TAKS," the judge said.

The judge also said Caleb was not responsible for failing to provide accommodations to special education students whose individual education plans required them to have accommodations during the April 2009 TAKS-Modified.

Caleb's attorney, Chris Tritico, said the state had no case against his client.

State officials "admitted they had no evidence, but their argument was because she's the principal, she's ultimately responsible," Tritico said. "She did everything she could to ensure the integrity of the test."

2 not investigated

State law says school superintendents and district testing directors are responsible for test security, but neither HISD Superintendent Terry Grier nor HISD's testing director was investigated, Tritico said.

HISD released a statement Wednesday saying it "remains confident in the overall conclusions of a third-party investigator, who found serious evidence of ineffective administrative oversight during Ms. Caleb's tenure as a campus principal."

Caleb, who ran Key for 16 years, said she feels vindicated.

"I'm really elated," she said. "I worked for the district 35 years. I had not done anything wrong and I was not going to relinquish my certification. I don't know if there was cheating at Key. I know I did not participate in any cheating. I would not have allowed teachers to engage in that activity."

The school district's investigative report noted highly suspicious scores among Key's special education eighth-graders on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills modified test in math and science. For example, 88 percent of the Key students reached the higher "commended" level on the math exam, compared with 17 percent across HISD.

The TEA found similar irregularities and evidence that a Key staff member had given practice TAKS questions to teachers to give to students that were identical to questions on the grades 6 and 7 TAKS math tests given in April 2009.

A TEA official admitted during the hearing that she had no information indicating Caleb was involved in any wrong­doing related to the test and that no one involved with the state's investigation contacted Caleb about the irregularities.

HISD officials also filed a complaint with the Harris County District Attorney's Office concerning the financial fraud and stolen equipment allegations, but no charges were ever filed against Caleb.

Summerhays' ruling was limited to the testing.

Last year, Caleb filed a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing Grier, HISD and the firm hired to conduct the investigation of violating her First and 14th Amendment rights.

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